Thursday, November 17, 2011

I am a traditionalist by heart. I like to serve up the same super special family favorites every year. I even go as far as not serving them any other time of the year. This way when the family sees the china out, the special glasses, the silverware.....they know this meal is meaningful. If you look at my menu plan this year and say, "Gee Lisa that looks like last years", you are probably right. I change very little from year to year. However, I am going to re-share my menu anyway. It is my way of welcoming you to our family table. We always have room for one more!

What is Thanksgiving without the turkey? Riverside brand (Walmart) and Butterball are the gluten free options in our neck of the woods.Riverside has gluten free printed right on the package. I always feel good when I see that. This brine recipe is Alton's. Its awesome and rocked our world the first time we ever tried the brine. It really does make the turkey extra moist.

This is it, the way I have been making stuffing since the very first time. The big issue here with stuffing is the gluten free bread. I have heard that gluten free bread does not hold up under pressure and turns to goo. GROSS! I did not actually have this problem. This picture above was stuffing from inside the turkey. Yes, we are an inside the turkey stuffing family. It has been the way since before I was born and so far a total of ZERO people got sick from this method. Notice that you can still see the shape of the cubes. I baked my own bread from my Udi's copycat recipe. I am not actually sure how it would turn out using Udi's although it seems like it would be the same since this recipe is a literal copycat. I would love to hear from any of my readers who tried that. See this year its all about convenience. I may still bake up some of this bread with tons of savory stuffing type seasonings. Or I may use a loaf of Udi's White bread.

Okay, so this is the only recipe I actually do make and serve throughout the year. I am planning on putting it in the crock pot to stay warm until dinner. This way the potatoes are not cold. The biggest Thanksgiving disaster, in my opinion, is cold mashed potatoes.

I may be the only one eating and enjoying this dish. My kids really do not care for it. No matter, in my mind it is not Thanksgiving without the Green Bean Casserole. Making it gluten free is tricky tho. Either you have to make your own breaded fried onions, or do what I am doing and cheat. This year I'm using Progresso Cream of Mushroom Soup (its gluten free!) and Kinnikinnick Planko style bread crumbs tossed with onion powder and oil for the topping. Basically this linked recipe with bread crumbs instead. I have heard folks putting Funyons in the mix to mimic the fried onions. Not sure I'll go there but figured I'd toss that idea out for ya.

This recipe came from a gourmet type magazine a very long time ago (Im older than you think). I originally started making this when I was young and childless. Before I knew that the stuff they line the cans with just may help in killing you. My only motivation to make this was because it made me feel super gourmet ;-). It is good though, and tastes just like that stuff from the can.

My son told me this morning that I make gravy better than anybody in the world. Sweet huh? Truth is, this recipe is no big secret. The best juices come right out of the turkey and make the best gravy. Just thicken it up with some corn starch, brown rice flour or betty crocker gluten free bisqick mix. I think the combination of the rice flour and gum in the bisquick does the best job as a thickener. I tend to use betty crocker gluten free bisqick mix as a replacement for the Wondra flour I USED to use before Celiac.

This really truly does taste like a regular honest to goodness biscuit from your wheat eating days. I think its the sweet potatoes that make the difference. I know if you are anything like me, you have been burned so many times when it comes to gluten free bread. But I would not lie to you here, its really a good recipe.